


The Stakeout

by nachocheese26



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Marcus is like any little kid, Rio's a good dad, soft Rio
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 15:32:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19428874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nachocheese26/pseuds/nachocheese26
Summary: Rio's just trying to do his job. But when you've got a seven-year-old in the front seat with you, it can be a little bit more challenging to do the job. Especially when the kid is just full of questions.





	The Stakeout

**Author's Note:**

> Because I love soft Rio and when it comes to Marcus, I just imagine him as a big ol' teddy bear.

“Daddy?”

“Hmm?”

“Daaaaddy?”

“Hmmm?”

“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!”

“Yes, Marcus! What? What can I do for you, little man?” Rio exclaimed, finally turning to look at his son.

The boy grinned, showing off all his missing teeth and the ‘grown-up’ teeth that were coming in. “What did one eyeball say to the other?”

Rio gave him an appeasing smile. “What?”

“You're so close and I didn’t even see you!”

He shook his head and chuckled, reaching over to gently shove Marcus’ head. “Get out of here with your silly jokes.”

Marcus giggled, pushing away Rio’s hand. “So are we done?”

Rio looked out the car window. “No.”

Marcus groaned, letting his head fall back against the headrest of the front seat. “When are we going to be done?”

Rio turned to give him a pointed look. “Nope, we ain’t doing this. You didn’t want to stay with Abuela, even though I told you I needed to get some work done. You said that you were going to be good and patient and go along with what I needed to do today.”

“But you didn’t say it was going to be boring!”

“Oh, so I’m boring now?” Rio asked, clutching his heart. “Damn, not even a pre-teen yet and you already think your old man is boring.”

Marcus laughed. “Not you! Just your job."

Rio tilted his head and regarded his son for a moment. “And what is it that you think I do for a job anyways?”

Marcus shrugged, beginning to play with the window button. Rio was glad he locked those buttons beforehand. “You own a washing company."

Rio laughed to himself. “Yeah, that’s one way to say it.”

“And then you also sit in your car forever and don’t do nothing.”

“Don’t do anything,” Rio corrected. “But you think we’re doing nothing right now? Ay, Pops, this is the most important part of the gig!”

“It is?”

“Mhmm. You see, I gotta keep an eye on all my…employees. Make sure they’re okay, that none of the rival washing businesses give them a hard time, and that they’re actually doing the laundry I give them.”

Marcus didn’t look convinced.

“All right fine, don’t believe me. But it can be pretty cool sometimes.”

“Will it be cool when I start doing it too?”

Rio furrowed his brows. “What do you mean?”

“You know, when I’m big and can start working for you.”

Rio pursed his lips. “Nah. You ain’t gonna work for me. You’ll be like a pilot or a firefighter or some other kind of cool shit.”

“Is it because your job really is boring?”

Rio bit back a laugh. “You’re too smart for your own good.” He pointed a finger in Marcus’ face. “You know that, right?”

Marcus scrunched up his face in a wide grin.

Rio smiled, pulling back his finger to muss up Marcus’ hair.

“Daddy! Stop!” Marcus squealed, swatting away Rio’s hands.

Rio shoved Marcus’ head again, before pulling his hands away and turning to look out the window again. The front door to the home they were parked just across the street from opened. Dean walked out, obviously in a fluster, his suit jacket hanging over one arm and his tie still undone.

Rio glanced at his watch. “Write this down. Two eighteen, D left.”

Marcus scrambled for his Spider-Man notebook and his pencil. “Two eighteen,” Marcus repeated as he slowly wrote out the letters. “D left.”

Rio looked at the notebook. “It’s E-I-G-H-T. And you don’t gotta spell out the numbers”

Marcus scratched out the letters and corrected it, still opting to write the numbers out. Rio nodded in approval, at least Marcus spelled the words right, then turned his attention back to the house, watching as Dean drove away in his car.

“He’s got a weird name.” Marcus stared down at his note. He had actually spelled out D-E-E.

“Nah, that’s not his name. I just shorten all their names to the first letter of their actual name.”

“Oh. So what’s his real name?”

“Dick.” The word was out of his mouth before Rio could even really think about it. But Rio thought that name suited Dean a whole lot better. So why bother correcting himself?

Marcus looked at him with suspicion. "I thought that was a bad word."

Rio shook his head. "Nope. It's short for Richard actually. But everyone calls him Dick. Mr. Dick Head.”

“Hey, like Mr. Potato Head!”

Rio looked at Marcus. God, his kid was innocent. “Yeah, exactly like Mr. Potato Head.”

“So do I write that down ins-“

“No!” Rio quickly exclaimed. Abuela would be pissed if she heard Marcus saying ‘Abuela! I saw Mr. Dick Head today!’ “No, we’ll just write down D for short.”

Marcus nodded solemnly, setting his pencil back in the cupholder. “So then does he work for you too?”

Rio scoffed. “Hell no.” Well, maybe technically he was one of Rio’s employees since he worked at the dealership, but Beth was calling the shots there. He was one of Beth’s employees. He was Beth’s problem.

Five minutes passed. Rio took a sip from his thermos. His tea was still nice and warm. He heard the clicking of the window button from Marcus’ side. Then the button that moved his chair forward and backward. Then he unlocked and locked the door. Followed by Marcus reaching up to turn on the lights, then turn them off.

“You done exploring?” Rio asked, a hint of tease in his voice.

Marcus collapsed back on his chair. “Aren’t we done yet?”

“Hey, what did I say about the whining?”

“I’m not whining.”

Rio glanced over to see Marcus pouting. He would laugh, but it would only encourage the behavior. “Just a little longer. I’m waiting on someone.”

“Who?”

“One of my employees.”

“What’s their name?”

“You wanna play twenty questions now?”

“Can we!?”

“If it settles you down.”

Marcus wiggled a little in his seat, excited to finally be doing something he considered fun. “Okay. Umm…who are we waiting for?”

“That’s not how the game works.”

“But it’s a question!”

“No, I think of something and you have to figure out what I’m thinking about by asking twenty questions.”

“Well…what are you thinking about?”

An amused scoff left Rio’s mouth. “Nah, that’s not a valid question either.”

Before Marcus could think of an actual question to ask, a car pulled up to the house. “Grab your notebook.” Rio turned his full attention to the car.

It was a new one. No, it was a piece of shit, but it was new to the house. He squinted his eyes a little then relaxed as he saw who was coming out. “Write this down. Two thirty-seven. R and A show. A’s got a new car.”

“Just the letters R and A right?”

“Right.”

Marcus looked up. “Hey! I know them! They’re the ladies from the park.”

“That’s right little man. You been paying attention.”

Marcus beamed at the pride in Rio’s voice. “But what’s their real names?”

“Ruby and Annie. Annie’s the short one and Ruby’s the tall one.”

“Do they work for you?”

“Yup.”

“That’s cool. I like Annie’s hair. And Ruby always smells like pasghetti.”

"Spaghetti." Rio idly corrected while he watched as they walked up the front porch. Ruby pulled out a set of keys while Annie was gesturing wildly. Ruby nodded occasionally, before opening the door and the two women walked in.

Marcus didn't seem to have heard him.“Is this how you spell thirty-seven?” Marcus shoved his notebook into Rio’s face.

Rio tilted his head back as Marcus held the notebook an inch from his nose. “No. It’s with T-H. Man, why are you spelling them out? Just write the numbers.”

“No. I’m trying to practice, Daddy.” He pulled the notebook away and started writing something down. “Okay, what if we play a different game?”

“We didn’t even finish twenty questions.”

“Yeah, but that was boring. How about you tell me the first word you think of when I tell you these names?”

Rio looked at Marcus. “Where’d you come up this game?”

“Mrs. Bradford at school tells us that it helps us remember people’s names.”

“All right, fine.” As long as it kept Marcus entertained.

“Mr. Dick Head.”

Rio couldn’t help his smirk. “Bastard.”

Marcus scrunched up his nose. “Yeah, but I can’t write that down because that’s a bad word.”

“Today, I am giving you permission. So long as you don’t go around repeating it in front of Abuela.”

“But that’s kind of mean, Daddy. You have to think of something nicer.”

Rio looked at Marcus. God, not only was his kid innocent, but he had such a good heart. Rio pursed his lips. Yeah, he did not want Marcus following him into this business. His hear was too pure. “Yeah, well, Mr. Dick Head ain’t the nicest person in the world.”

Marcus’ eyes went wide. “Did he do something bad to you?”

Rio shook his head. “Nah, not me. He’s…he don’t know how to respect women.”

Marcus shook his head in disappointment.

“And how do we treat women?”

“Like bad ass queens.”

Rio smiled. “Exactly. And he doesn’t treat any of the women in his life like that.”

Marcus bit the end of his pencil. “So…what do I put by his name?”

“How about dumb ass then?”

Marcus titled his head in consideration. “Can I?”

“Like I said, just don’t say it in front of Abuela.”

Marcus sounded out the word.

“There’s a B at the end of dumb and ass is with two S’s.”

Marcus wrote out the words correctly. “Okay. Now what about Ruby?”

“Hard worker. She takes care of her own.”

The pencil scratched across the paper. “Um, Annie?”

“Crazy. Her mouth gets her in trouble, but…she’s cool.”

“How ‘bout…Marcus!?”

Rio looked at Marcus and his wide grin. “Hmm. That’s going to be a lot of words. Let’s start with nosy. Sometimes kind of stinky when he decides that he don’t need to brush his teeth in the morning.”

“Hey!” Marcus shoved Rio’s arm.

He laughed. “Um, what else? Got his daddy’s looks so he’s definitely going to have all the ladies over him when he’s older. Or guys, whatever floats his boat.”

Marcus giggled.

“Damn smart too. I mean, look at this.” Rio grabbed the notebook and showed Marcus his own handwriting. “Instead of writing just the numbers, he’s actually spelling them out so he can practice. Kid’s got a bright future ahead of him.”

Marcus smiled and Rio felt as if he was looking at the sun. He would do anything for this kid.

“Got any other names?”

Marcus shook his head and closed his notebook. “So does that mean we can go?”

“Nope.”

Marcus groaned loudly.

“Settle in, son. We might be here a few more hours.”

And as Marcus began complaining, Rio saw the front door waiting. His lips curled up.

The person he’d been waiting for.

Beth walked down the driveway, glanced down the street before crossing and approaching his car.

“Daddy, is that who we were waiting for?”

“Yup.” Rio rolled down his window before Beth could start tapping on it. “Elizabeth. How are you?”

“Fine. What are you…” Beth leaned down and saw Marcus. “You brought your kid?”

“Sure did. Marcus, say hi to Miss Beth.”

“Hi Miss Beth! Daddy said he was waiting for you."

“Did he now?” Beth asked with a small smirk.

Rio shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I was.”

“Is there something you needed to tell me?”

He shook his head. “Just wanting to make sure my top employee is doing okay.”

Beth’s smirk grew. “So now I’m your top employee?”

“You must wash a whole lot of stuff for Daddy!” Marcus exclaimed.

Beth blinked. “Uh…”

“You bet she does.” Rio interrupted her search for words. “Didn’t think it would actually work with her, but…here we are.”

The woman actually blushed.

“Daddy said he’s gotta make sure his employees are always okay. We saw Ruby and Annie go inside and Mr. Head leave too.”

Beth pressed her lips into a firm line. “I’m sorry. Who?”

“Mr. Head. You know, Mr. Dick Head?”

Beth’s mouth dropped. “You mean _Dean_?” She glared at Rio.

“Oh, that’s his name?” Rio feigned innocence. “Guess I must’ve gotten confused.”

She rolled her eyes, before looking back at Marcus. “His name is Dean, honey. He’s my husband.”

Marcus frowned, looking at Rio. “But you said-“

“I know what I said Pops. And it’s all true.” Rio said with another shrug.

The frown stayed on his face as he looked back to Beth. “But why are you marr-“

“You know what? I think it’s time we get going.” Rio said, cutting off Marcus.

Beth shook her head, giving Rio a bemused smile. He liked it on her. “You know my kids are home and they’re finally breaking into the slime kit. Marcus is welcome to join them.

Rio shook his head. “Nah, we got things to do. Maybe next time.”

"Oh come on, Daddy! Please! We've been stuck in the car for hours!"

Beth's smile widened.

"Hey, you wanted to be running around with me today. We gotta move on to the next big thing."

"Don't worry, honey. I'll make sure they save some slime for you," Beth said, giving Marcus a wink. “It’s actually supposed to be beautiful Saturday. I was thinking of taking the kids to the park for a nice picnic. You’re welcome to join.”

“Saturday…” Rio looked over at Marcus. “We got anything going on, Pops?”

Marcus smiled as he shook his head.

“All right then.” He looked back to Beth. “I’ve got some business we should talk about anyways. Nothing too serious, though, since it can wait."

“It’s a date.”

Rio’s mouth turned up into a half smile. “See you then, Mami.”

Beth stepped back as Rio rolled up the window and started up the car again. He lifted up a hand in goodbye while Marcus waved his hand wildly. “Hey, sit down right and put your seat belt on. The car’s moving."

Marcus did as he was told and grabbed his notebook. “Two fifty. B says hi.” He wrote down with prompting.

“Man, look at you. My man’s learnin’.”

“So what about Miss Beth?”

“What about her?” Rio turned right. Out of his rearview mirror, he could see Beth still standing in the street, watching him drive away. He pursed his lips to keep from smiling.

“Remember? What’s the first word that you think of when you think of her name?”

Dozens of words came to mind. Bitch boss. Surprising. Bold. Bad ass. Voluptuous. Beautiful.

“Daddy?”

“Hmm?”

“What word reminds you of Miss Beth?”

“I’m thinking.”

“Well, you’re taking a long time.”

“You’re going to get car sick if you keep looking down at the notepad.”

“But I’m just waiting for you to say the word so I can write it down and then I’ll put it away.”

“No, no, no, put it away already.” Rio took one of his hands off the wheel and reached for it.

Marcus started laughing, trying to pull the notebook out of Rio’s grasp. But Rio still managed to grab it, stuffing it between his door and the seat.

“Can you just tell me what word you’re thinking of then when you think of Miss Beth?”

They came to a red light and Rio looked over at Marcus. “I got too many words to describe her. You'd need three of those Spider-Man notebooks to write down all the words."

"But they're nice words, right?"

"Oh yeah. Nothing but nice words for Elizabeth."


End file.
